>From: spikeangel <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: totally ferret? > >Ok, so petsmart and petco is not carring this anymore. I heard it was >because it was a bad food for ferrets. what have you heard? My girls >love it! Utter nonsense! Their foods have been developed by Tom Willard who has a doctorate in animal nutrition. Having someone who actually knows what he is doing develop a food is the best thing that can happen. Someone else mentioned that these sellers are restricting themselves to products from fewer sources. Places do that as a price control and cost control move. During times of tighter money they typically remove the venders who sell only a few products, buy only from the larger venders who may even have multiple product lines with many products in each, and then go for the best quantity purchase pricing they can. Reducing the on-shelf competition also helps retail chains negotiate the best wholesale pricing, and it reducing the variety of products means less data entry so reduces their employment and employment costs. If you look around you will see many types of merchants doing this. Did you see that the get a wider variety of jeans makers who are not giant manufacturers you need to go to more stores instead of just one large one? Did you notice certain human foods you like are missing from the neighborhood grocery's shelves? Is there an unusual product from a small maker that you used to buy from your drug store but which is now in short supply? It is common response in times when costs are being reduced. Economists say that things seem to have stabilized with some indicators slowing improving. A slow recovery is more painful and makes it take longer for enough jobs and decent jobs to appear and with fewer sales for small companies including small manufacturers, but slow recoveries tend to often be more stable long term so the situation is a complex one and companies with enough savings will survive. There is always room for surprises down the road in a global economy since it is so very complex and because political shifts can alter prospects by introducing instability and worry among merchants. Then more they worry the less they buy from small manufacturers. Furthermore, spending on animals decreases when people are worried about money so junk food is more likely to be bought rather than good food -- meaning less demand for the higher priced good foods, and less is spend on veterinary care, too. Anyway, rather than get off-topic I will just say that little bit because it is relevant. You can still get Totally Ferret from the manufacturer AND from specialty on-line stores such as Ferret Depot which sold Steve and me three bags just two weeks ago. Sukie (not a vet) Recommended ferret health links: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html http://www.miamiferret.org/ http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html all ferret topics: http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html "All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow." (2010, Steve Crandall) On change for its own sake: "You can go really fast if you just jump off the cliff." (2010, Steve Crandall) [Posted in FML 6833]